# The Anti-Build



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

I've seen some really amazing builds on here in the last few months, Coolers, Wine Chillers and even humidors. The very worst of them easily 10 times better than I could ever hope to do.

With that in mind, I wanted to make this post. I dont want to take anything away from the awesome BOTLs around here and the awesome work they have done and the truly creative things they have created, but I wanted to address the other guy. Guys like me, who have neither the inclination, finances or ability to create something spectacular 

What I present for you here is the absolute minimum required to turn a Vino into a humidor, Im posting it in case there is someone out there hesitating to pull the trigger on a project like this one simply because they don't think they can,

My Vinodor started its life with me as a standard 28 bottle themo-electric wine chiller. It was used and my wife found it on Craigslist for $135. I cleaned it out by wiping it down with a clean rag. It smelled a little like wine, but that went away pretty much as soon as I put some empty cigar boxes in it.

I'm not comfortable with drilling holes in it, or wiring... so no electronic temp control. I just set the highest temp it would go (66) and hoped for the best 

Next came reclaiming the condensation... after several different ideas, I settled on this one (it seems to work the best)









That's about a pound of Kitty Litter in a large mesh filter bag, It sits in the back and soaks up any and all condensation. Im assuming it releases it as well, but all I know, is the bottom stays dry (with nothing down there, water tends to pool) 

I bought a couple of the cheap trays from Cheaphumidors.com 









All of the wood inside came from empty cigar boxes and the trays, and it looked like this : 









Finally I had to reorganize it some as I got more sticks to put in there and what not. I also got a gift of some Heartfelt beads, so I put them in as well. On the very top shelf is a pound of ConservaGel beads in some disposable brownie tins. On the very bottom is a pound of Heartfelt beads, half in a tin, the other half in a filter bag (ran out of tins LOL). The Puck was left over from my traditional humi and I threw it in there rather than just waste it.









There you have it. The absolute minimum. Some cheap trays, some empty boxes, Heartfelt, ConservaGel AND Kitty Litter LOL. Total investment? Under $200 

It holds 65% like a champ, although,since the room it's in isn't cooled atm, when the temp outside (in the room) goes over 78ish, the unit has to work hard to keep the temps down and the RH tends to drop a tiny bit (60ish) for a few hours (I'm assuming its the fan). If you have a normal room to put it in, where the temp doesn't get over 75 or so, you'll never see anything but the RH you want.

Do I want all the other bells and whistles? Of course! But, for the time being, it's getting the job done.


----------



## deep (Mar 13, 2009)

Nice job Mike! glad you are all up and running, and it is holding humidity like champ!:woohoo:


----------



## d_day (Aug 24, 2008)

You know, I never thought of this as an idea for a thread. I think it's great. 

I have a cooler with no extras, though the reason is quite different. Shelves and trays are great at organizing, but they have an undesireable effect too. They take up space. I can get way more cigars in a cooler without shelves and trays than I can with them.


----------



## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Very nice and simple!

Whatever works is what I always said


----------



## Mr_Black (Dec 1, 2010)

Simple, yet efficient. Can't beat that!


----------



## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Mike - I like your post. I too would love to have all the bells & whistles and a giant humidor but $$ is always part of the equation. I think you did a great job. I just set up a simple cooler that doesn't look anywhere near as nice as your winedorr conversion. I don't even have shelves yet - my neighbor is ripping down an old cedar board into strips for me so I can make my own shelves and I'm running KL partly because of Tony Brooklyn, but mostly cause it's cheap. And I'm using a hygro/temp from Walmart that I salt tested and was accurate, so I've really gone low tech. Anyway - youve got a great functioning humidor that looks nice and doesn't have to be hidden away - definitely something to be proud of. Nice job.


----------



## Pipedreamz (Feb 4, 2011)

Awesome. I have done the same thing except with a mini fridge so no cooling. But it's pretty plain and simple and I was embarrassed to post it! Thanks Mike.


----------



## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Pipedreamz said:


> Awesome. I have done the same thing except with a mini fridge so no cooling. But it's pretty plain and simple and I was embarrassed to post it! Thanks Mike.


Post pics of it! I always like seeing what other BOTL have come up with.


----------



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

Oldmso54 said:


> I don't even have shelves yet - my neighbor is ripping down an old cedar board into strips for me so I can make my own shelves


You aren't using actual Cedar are you? Spanish Cedar isn't really cedar, its a Mahogany... real cedar will do weird things to the cigars (so I have been told anyway) 

Thanks for the kind words all  ... I did forget one thing about the "build" though... the Drain. I made an "X" out of black electrical tape and sealed it up with that. We were having some (typical for Texas) weird weather and the internal RH seemed to be affected by the outside RH (which was bouncing all over the place, 30% one day, 90+ the next) (again, its because the room its in isn't temp controlled, that will change before summer  )

Oh, and I just realized one of my metal shelves is in backwards... ROFL, I swear some days I couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel!  LOL


----------



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

Pipedreamz said:


> Awesome. I have done the same thing except with a mini fridge so no cooling. But it's pretty plain and simple and I was embarrassed to post it! Thanks Mike.


You should post it, if nothing else, we just like to see how well people play Cigar Tetris  LOL


----------



## baderjkbr (Jun 21, 2010)

Good job Mike. Looks like you need another already.


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 2011)

Great setup! and very true about some of us who cant afford all the bells and whistles. I once saw a temp controlled humi for like $1200 and it only held like 250-300 sticks!


----------



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

baderjkbr said:


> Good job Mike. Looks like you need another already.


Looks are deceiving... the boxes you see are empty (except the one at the top, its got random singles in it, and its got room for more, I just have em stacked to keep the lid open)  There's maybe 70 sticks in there I would guess... maybe 80. I need to do an inventory...

I'd also stack them better/different if I had some actual full boxes


----------



## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Athion said:


> You aren't using actual Cedar are you? Spanish Cedar isn't really cedar, its a Mahogany... real cedar will do weird things to the cigars (so I have been told anyway)
> 
> Thanks for the kind words all  ... I did forget one thing about the "build" though... the Drain. I made an "X" out of black electrical tape and sealed it up with that. We were having some (typical for Texas) weird weather and the internal RH seemed to be affected by the outside RH (which was bouncing all over the place, 30% one day, 90+ the next) (again, its because the room its in isn't temp controlled, that will change before summer  )
> 
> Oh, and I just realized one of my metal shelves is in backwards... ROFL, I swear some days I couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel!  LOL


No it's Spanish Cedar - my neighbor is a retired carpenter, handy man, construction guy and he confirmed and identified the wood for me and he knows where it's going and that it can't be regular cedar like in closets, etc. which I was pretty sure of anyway because it didn't have that closet cedar stuff smell.


----------



## titlowda (Jan 23, 2011)

Nice and simple. Looks good!


----------



## Pipedreamz (Feb 4, 2011)

Ok here is my "Anti-Anti-Build" So called because there is no cooling in this one. It's a mini fridge that has all the components stripped out. I have caulked up all the interior holes. There is Spanish cedar from cigar boxes. On the door are strips from broken down boxes and box tops on the floor. I have two box tops as a really ghetto shelf. The shelf is totally temporary though, it looks to red neck even for me. I have a pound of beads in there in panty hose but took them out for the picture. Total cost of this project so far.. $6. This is my "red neck aging room". Guess I should have at least wiped it down for the pics, but this gives it a homely appearance.


----------



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

Just a little update. I mentioned in the original post that they that the RH tends to drop in the middle of the day as the room heats up. I assumed it was the fan running, but as the outside temps continued to rise, the RH dropped lower and lower during the day. 

What I finally realized was happening was that as the temp in the room went up (its been very close to 90 here, so it was easily 85+ in the room) the temp inside was staying the same... and all the RH was condensing inside on the walls of the unit. Condensation was out of freaking control LOL. 

I wasn't ready to AC that room yet, so we moved the Vino out to the living room, and with the temp at a more reasonable level, its been nailed to 65% every since  

Again all of these issues are because I didnt have AC in that room, most people will never see this issue at all. I just wanted to post this on the offhand chance some WAS having the issue


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Great job fella's simple and efficient!:tea:


----------



## bbasaran (Mar 20, 2011)

Both are very nice. Congrats.


----------



## CALIFORNIA KID (Nov 21, 2010)

I like it. It gives me an idea. I'll have a new thread up in a week or so.


----------



## Strickland (Feb 15, 2011)

Not a thing wrong with that! I want one for myself, now...


----------



## UncleFester (Jan 5, 2011)

Athion said:


> Just a little update. I mentioned in the original post that they that the RH tends to drop in the middle of the day as the room heats up. I assumed it was the fan running, but as the outside temps continued to rise, the RH dropped lower and lower during the day.
> 
> What I finally realized was happening was that as the temp in the room went up (its been very close to 90 here, so it was easily 85+ in the room) the temp inside was staying the same... and all the RH was condensing inside on the walls of the unit. Condensation was out of freaking control LOL.
> 
> ...


Hmmm... I was considering a vinotemp precisely for the reason that I have severe temp fluctuations. Even the darkest closet in my house can get above 80 degrees with no AC. I wanted to stick the fridge in the closet with my new Waxing Moon Humi inside, plus a few additional wood trays. The last thing I would want is condensation dripping down on my Waxing Moon!!:shock: You'd see a grown man cry like a baby if that were to happen!

So the question is... am I screwed either way so just run up the damned electric bill with the wall AC????


----------



## Batista30 (Sep 13, 2010)

I like it Mike.  If I were to get a wine fridge, your way is probably the method I would use to turn it into a wineador. I like the bells and whistles, but sometimes I feel like keeping it simple so as not to worry about anything else. Once you start putting more money into it, I'd rather just get a cabinet. Nice work and thanks for this thread.


----------



## vtxcigar (Nov 25, 2010)

Nice job guys! This encourages me to pull the trigger a little quicker maybe rather
than just waiting while I save up, then using that money to buy cigars and having
to start saving up again.

It's a vicious circle. . .


----------



## Reino (Sep 13, 2010)

Thanks for the post you inspired me......

I have had a new edgestar 28 the was gifted to me ( thanks seasicksailor-Mike) with a broken door. I ordered the door for $70.The door came in a month ago and has been sitting here because I wanted shelves and drawers, controller etc.
I am just going to order 2 adj hygros and go to Petsmart this week and get a jug of KL and gets this baby a cooling and stocked!

So I should only have about $120 bucks in it. That is before stick of coarse!


----------



## kumanchu (Mar 16, 2011)

i did virtually the same thing with an edgestar 16 bottle cooler i picked up on cl for $65

I think total i have $145 in it after getting 4 trays from cheap humidors, and 2 lbs of 70% beads off of ebay ($5 per 1/2 lb) and 4 media filter bags

holding humidity like a champ too


----------



## Reddogg (Mar 29, 2011)

Reino said:


> Thanks for the post you inspired me......
> 
> I have had a new edgestar 28 the was gifted to me ( thanks seasicksailor-Mike) with a broken door. I ordered the door for $70.The door came in a month ago and has been sitting here because I wanted shelves and drawers, controller etc.
> I am just going to order 2 adj hygros and go to Petsmart this week and get a jug of KL and gets this baby a cooling and stocked!
> ...


 do you hane deminisions on tha t edgestar 28 for the shelves and drawers


----------



## Reddogg (Mar 29, 2011)

drawers and shelves may help with keeping up with the inventory? but maybe that's because i build shelves and drawers.


----------



## Athion (Jul 17, 2010)

UncleFester said:


> Hmmm... I was considering a vinotemp precisely for the reason that I have severe temp fluctuations. Even the darkest closet in my house can get above 80 degrees with no AC. I wanted to stick the fridge in the closet with my new Waxing Moon Humi inside, plus a few additional wood trays. The last thing I would want is condensation dripping down on my Waxing Moon!!:shock: You'd see a grown man cry like a baby if that were to happen!
> 
> So the question is... am I screwed either way so just run up the damned electric bill with the wall AC????


You would probably see some relatively minor drops in RH, but not too terrible I wouldn't think. Mine was tolerable until the 85+ started. At 80 it was ok. Lows would be around 61-2 for a bit, but rebound overnight. Once it broke 85 though... (the day I moved it, it was 88 outside, and the RH dropped to 54).

As for drips... They mostly stay on the walls of the unit. I got drips once off the metal shelf, but I think that was my fault for over hydrating the beads to compensate for the RH drop.


----------



## UncleFester (Jan 5, 2011)

Athion said:


> You would probably see some relatively minor drops in RH, but not too terrible I wouldn't think. Mine was tolerable until the 85+ started. At 80 it was ok. Lows would be around 61-2 for a bit, but rebound overnight. Once it broke 85 though... (the day I moved it, it was 88 outside, and the RH dropped to 54).
> 
> As for drips... They mostly stay on the walls of the unit. I got drips once off the metal shelf, but I think that was my fault for over hydrating the beads to compensate for the RH drop.


I appreciate the feedback!

I started searching around on the topic and apparently there are quite a few methods to dealing with this issue. From letting the KL/Beads simply absorb and recycle, to hooking up a mason jar in back via siphoning hose.

Eventually I know I'm going to have to break down and do it, but having just forked out a bit over $400 for my Waxing Moon, I'm going to have to let it ride for a while. In the meantime, I'll just watch and learn from the fine BOTL here!


----------

